"as always", when i finally got into the hives i was surprised.
polyxena christina and agnes both had more honey than they let on to - both about 50% full. a little of it looked newly capped, so that might be the sugar water i have been feeding them. (hogs) i'm not giving them any more free lunches.
and again, "as always", i worked polyxena christina first. they were a little agitated. agnes was very calm. i checked each honey frame in each super, and in both hives i pulled out 2 empty frames from the outside, moved some half full frames to those spots and added 2 full honey frames that i had robbed and saved to the middle, over where i thought the brood frames were. ( i had an idea of where they might be because i had peeked in the entrance with a flashlight a few nights ago and saw that the bees were hanging on about 3 frames near the feeder. that showd me where the brood would be.) agnes had 2 supers on her. the bottom one was empty so i removed it. i set the partially empty frames on the ground beside the hives so the bees could rob them out. when they are dry i will cover and store with moth crystals.
both p.c. & a. had lots of activity in the honey super, and LOTS of bees covering about 4 frames in the brood box. however, i did not find any larvae or brood at all in p.c. and only saw 1 capped cell in agnes' hive. (which was hatching out at the moment i saw it btw!)
got into esther last. she has 2 supers on. the bottom one is 50% full, top about 75%. she had lots of bees. they seemed to be getting agitated too, so i briefly checked the brood box. found 2 full frames of brood, then put everything back together and left them alone.
did not see any queens, but i was trying not to linger any longer than necessary.
of course hindsight is 20/20, right? so now i'm thinking that i should have stayed in esther a little while longer, checked for more brood and moved some to p.c. and a.
sometimes i wonder if my little grey cells go on vacation without notifying me first.
